A ban on Donegal-based Spanish students crossing the border after the horrific Omagh bombing has been lifted for the first time in 15 years.
Gonzalo Cavedo poses for a picture just seconds before the car containing the Omagh bomb explodes behind him.
Two Spanish students were among the 29 people killed in the massacre on August 15th 1998.
Students have continued to come from Spain to spend summers in Donegal but have never been allowed to cross the border into Northern Ireland.
But this week small group of students have been allowed to visit the Peace Bridge in Derry.
Fernando Blasco Baselga (12) and group leader Rocio Abad Ramos (23) were among the victims, along with Buncrana youngsters Shaun McLaughlin (12), James Barker (12) and eight-year-old Oran Doherty.
Another Spanish visitor to Omagh on the day of the blast features in one of the most poignant images from the day.
Gonzalo Cavedo was captured posing with a young child on his shoulders, completely unaware that in the red car just yards away was a 500lb bomb which seconds later would claim the lives of many in the picture and injure hundreds more. Mr Cavedo and the child survived, but the photographer was killed.
Organiser Paula Helguero of the Donegal Centre scheme told the Belfast Telegraph that time has been a healer.
“Families were worried that something could happen again. But time has been something of a healer and we thought we should return to the north, especially with the Year of Culture and with Derry looking so great.
“We haven’t brought all the students together, but rather in groups of around 15 or 20.”
In the years after the bombing, the Spanish students who stay with host families in Donegal were brought to Buncrana via Sligo rather than having to travel through Northern Ireland.
Paula also revealed that her own niece was caught up in the bombing and was badly injured.
However she made a full recovery and has since gone on tow work with Ryanair in Oslo.
Paula and her students are planning to remember the bombing today by holding a special mass in Buncrana.
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